--- meta: title: "Liveblocks vs. PowerSync: shared editing and offline data" parentTitle: "Compare" description: "Compare Liveblocks and PowerSync for collaborative editing, local SQLite, offline writes, and self-hosting. Choose around your data and write architecture." --- Liveblocks is a realtime collaboration platform that allows you to build multiplayer applications where users and agents can work together. It provides a sync engine that powers shared documents, text editing, presence, and more. PowerSync is a sync service that keeps a local SQLite database on each device in sync with your Postgres, MongoDB, or MySQL database and uploads local writes to your back end. ## Which should you choose? [#which-should-you-choose] PowerSync and Liveblocks solve different problems. PowerSync is how each device gets an offline copy of your database, whereas Liveblocks is how people edit artifacts together. Choose Liveblocks when several people work on the same document, canvas, or board at once, and their edits need to merge without overwriting each other. Choose PowerSync when each user needs a local, queryable copy of their own records that keeps working offline, such as a field technician's job list, and your back end should be the one to apply their writes. Some products use both: PowerSync for the records each device carries offline, and Liveblocks for the documents people edit together. ## Compare the data and write paths [#compare-the-data-and-write-paths] | Area | Liveblocks | PowerSync | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Client data model | Shared documents in Storage. A CRDT-based document store. Concurrent edits merge automatically, and data is kept until you delete it. Learn more. | Local SQLite tables. Each device runs its own SQLite database that your app queries directly. Learn more. | | Data on the client | The documents in the rooms you open. | Selected rows from your Postgres, MongoDB, or MySQL database. The PowerSync Service reads your database's replication stream and sends each device the rows your sync rules assign to it. Learn more. | | Writes | Client and server APIs edit the document directly. Changes are sent to the Liveblocks server and broadcast to everyone in the room. Learn more. | Local SQLite changes queued for upload to your back end. | | Offline writes | Queued while disconnected and sent on reconnect, within the same session. | Durable. The local database and upload queue survive app restarts. | | Conflict resolution | CRDT-based. Concurrent edits to objects, lists, maps, and text merge automatically. Writes to the same single value are last-write-wins. Learn more. | Your server decides. It applies each uploaded write with your own rules. PowerSync documents several strategies, from last write wins to custom merge logic in your write API. Learn more. | | Text editing | Built in, with Tiptap, BlockNote, Lexical, and more. Official packages for popular editors, plus Yjs guides for others. Learn more. | Not built in. PowerSync publishes a guide for wiring up Yjs yourself. The guide stores Yjs updates as rows and syncs them through PowerSync. Learn more. | | Ready-made UI | Cursors, avatar stacks, comments, and notifications. React components you can drop in, plus hooks for building your own. Cursors, AvatarStack, Comments. | None. PowerSync ships client SDKs, not UI components. | | Authentication | Your server issues access tokens using your existing auth. Works with any auth provider. Tokens grant access to specific rooms. Learn more. | Your auth provider issues JWTs that the PowerSync Service verifies. Sync rules use claims from the token to decide which rows each user receives. Learn more. | | Self-hosting | Paid add-on on the Enterprise plan. Covers Sync; you run the servers and storage. Learn more. | Free source-available Open Edition, or a paid Enterprise Self-Hosted plan. You run the PowerSync Service next to your source database. Learn more. | | The main question | Which parts of your app should people edit together? | Which rows does each device need offline, and how does your back end apply its writes? | ## How does offline SQLite differ from a shared document? [#how-does-offline-sqlite-differ-from-a-shared-document] They make different guarantees. PowerSync keeps a full SQLite database on the device and a durable queue of changes to upload, so the app works after a restart with no connection. Liveblocks [Sync](/docs/products/sync) keeps a loaded document up to date and, if the connection drops, holds unconfirmed edits until it reconnects. That covers a flaky connection during a session, not a device that stays offline for a day. | Requirement | PowerSync | Liveblocks Storage | | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Query assigned jobs while offline | Query the local SQLite database. | Read the document that is already loaded. | | Queue writes for a later upload | Durable upload queue. Your back end validates each change. | Edits are queued for the rest of the current session. | | Reopen after the app has closed | The local database and queue are still there. | Reconnecting resumes the loaded session. Keeping edits across restarts is up to you. | | Merge edits inside a paragraph | Add a CRDT yourself, following the Yjs guide. | Use a built-in text editing integration. | Choose PowerSync when an offline relational dataset is the core requirement. Choose Liveblocks when the core of the feature is a shared document with editing and review built around it. A product may have both. ## Offline job lists vs. shared canvases [#offline-job-lists-vs-shared-canvases] A [PowerSync client](https://docs.powersync.com/architecture/client-architecture) reads from local SQLite. Writes update the local database and enter an upload queue. Your upload code sends those changes to your back end, where you apply business rules and authorization. Failed uploads are retried when the connection returns. Take a field-service app where a technician needs an assigned set of jobs, equipment records, and forms while disconnected. What matters is the local dataset, the queries, how uploads behave, and what happens to rejected changes across the whole visit. That is what PowerSync's database-centered model is built for. For a design tool where people work on the same canvas, what matters is how concurrent edits merge and what everyone sees while they work. Liveblocks fits that without making a local relational database the app's primary client model. ## Does PowerSync merge concurrent edits? [#does-powersync-merge-concurrent-edits] Not on its own. PowerSync uploads each queued write to your back end, and your write API decides how to apply it. Its documentation on [handling update conflicts](https://docs.powersync.com/handling-writes/handling-update-conflicts) covers several strategies, from last write wins to custom merge logic, but the code is yours. For collaborative text, PowerSync's [Yjs integration guide](https://docs.powersync.com/client-sdks/advanced/crdts) shows how to store Yjs updates as rows and sync them through PowerSync. Compare that whole setup, including document storage, uploads, and how concurrent edits behave, with a Liveblocks [editor integration](/docs/products/sync/integrations), where the CRDT and the sync are already connected. ## Pricing and deployment [#pricing-and-deployment] [PowerSync Pro](https://www.powersync.com/pricing) starts at $49 per month and includes 30 GB of data synced, 10 GB of data hosted on the PowerSync Service, and 1,000 peak concurrent clients. Beyond that, synced and hosted data are $1 per GB and concurrent clients are $30 per 1,000. A free plan covers small projects. On top of that, budget your source database and the write API that applies uploads. For Liveblocks, budget Sync usage plus the application services around the documents. Comments and Notifications are billed as their own usage. Your [plan's credits](/docs/pricing/plans) apply once across all Liveblocks usage. PowerSync can be [self-hosted](https://docs.powersync.com/intro/self-hosting) with its source-available Open Edition. Liveblocks offers [self-hosting](/docs/platform/data-storage#Self-hosting) as a paid add-on on the Enterprise plan. Either way, your own servers, database, backups, and operations are part of the budget. ## Get started [#get-started] Explore the [whiteboard example](/examples/tldraw-whiteboard/nextjs-tldraw-whiteboard-storage), then use the [canvas guide](/docs/use-cases/canvas) to separate the canvas people edit together from the records your app needs offline. [Start building with Liveblocks for free](https://liveblocks.io/dashboard). For self-hosting, [contact sales](/contact/sales). --- For an overview of all available documentation, see [/llms.txt](/llms.txt).